MPs spent more than £116,000 of taxpayers’ money on subsistence claims last
year, figures show.

The total was £116,869, about half of which was spent on expenses for staff and interns.

Although individual claims made by MPs are available on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) website, the total amount spent on subsistence has not previously emerged.

MPs claimed £61,541 on subsistence for themselves in the previous financial year. Under Ipsa’s guidelines, they are allowed to claim up to £15 for meals when Parliament is sitting late into the night.

They are not allowed to claim for alcoholic drinks.

MPs can also claim for hotel rooms or travel costs for a carer to bring a “dependent child” to them if they are forced to work later than expected. The average subsistence claim made by MPs last year was for just over £11.

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Interns working in parliamentary offices made expenses claims totalling £52,512 in the previous financial year.

MPs can choose whether to pay interns working in their offices. If they are not paying interns at least the minimum wage of £6.19p an hour for someone 21 and over, they can offer to cover their travel costs and food expenses. The average claim submitted on behalf of interns was for £5.40. MPs’ staff made claims of £2,815 for subsistence.

The figures were obtained following a parliamentary question by Robert Flello, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South.

They show that Ipsa’s average cost of processing an expenses claim will be £12.32 next year. Mr Flello warned about the overall cost of the Westminster watchdog. “You can draw various conclusions from the data and it depends on whether people take the view that like most people who work away from home, MPs and staff should get subsistence,” Mr Flello said. “One conclusion is that Ipsa is very costly. Does the taxpayer get cost-effective reassurance that expenses are being claimed properly given that the evidence shows there is good compliance?”

In a survey published by Ipsa last week, seven in 10 MPs said they were underpaid on £65,738 a year.

On average, MPs said they deserved salaries of £86,250, a 32 per cent rise. Ipsa, which said it was “time to move on” from the expenses scandal, said one in five MPs thought they deserved at least £95,000 a year.

More than a third thought they should keep generous final salary pensions.

Cheryl Gillan, a former Cabinet minister in the Coalition, has warned that setting pay too low would mean that only the rich could afford to stand for Parliament.